Dean Harrison (Silicone Engineering Kawasaki) won the four-lap Superbike Classic TT race for the second year running when he dominated Monday evening’s encounter, eventually coming home some 1m03s clear of Horst Saiger (Greenall Racing Kawasaki) with Conor Cummins taking third on the 500cc Padgetts Yamaha.
Saiger was first to leave the line at 5.50pm but James Hillier (no5) was unable to start as his Oxford Products Ducati overheated whilst Josh Brookes (Wiz Norton Racing) was also unable to take his number 11 starting position although the pairing did both eventually get underway.
At Glen Helen on the opening lap though it was Harrison who led by 2.5s from Gary Johnson (Team York Suzuki) with the Lincolnshire rider in turn 2.6s ahead of Michael Rutter (Winfield Yamaha). Paul Jordan (Mistral Racing Kawasaki) was going great guns in fourth ahead of Derek Sheils (Greenall Racing Kawasaki) and David Johnson (Team York Suzuki) with the Manx pairing of Andrew Dudgeon (ACR Racing Kawasaki) and Cummins in seventh and eighth as less than three seconds covered fourth to tenth.
Harrison had quickly caught Saiger and was now leading comfortably on the road as well as on the timesheets and by Ramsey Hairpin, he’d increased his advantage over Gary Johnson to a healthy 9.4s. Rutter still held onto third but Cummins was now up to fourth ahead of Jordan and Saiger as Sheils retired at Kirk Michael.
An opening lap of 125.475mph put Harrison 19s clear of new second placed rider Rutter who’d edged ahead of Gary Johnson by 2.9s. Cummins was only half a second further back in fourth as Saiger overhauled Jordan for fifth. Brookes, meanwhile, had climbed all the way up to ninth after an opening lap of 121.380mph despite fighting his way through traffic.
At the head of the field, Harrison was pressing ahead with another five seconds added to his lead at Glen Helen on lap two but whilst Rutter was still in second, Cummins had relegated Gary Johnson down to fourth although there was still only three quarters of a second between the duo.
By Ramsey, Harrison had built up a 34s lead as Rutter went out at Ballacrye and a second lap of 126.041mph saw the Bradford rider come into the pit stop with an extremely commanding lead of 37s over new second placed man Cummins. He was still only 3.4s clear of Gary Johnson though as Saiger, Jordan and Dudgeon now occupied fourth to sixth. David Johnson retired at the pits and Brookes was also in trouble, a lap of 114mph dropping him back to tenth and ultimately out of the race.
Both Gary Johnson and Cummins had relatively slow pit stops and Johnson’s race ended at Quarter Bridge less than a mile into lap three which meant by Glen Helen, Harrison’s lead was a whopping 53.2s. Saiger had now moved up to second though with Cummins slipping back to third ahead of Jordan and Dudgeon.
Leading on the road, Harrison was taking full advantage of the clear road ahead of him, building on his lead at all of the timing points and going into the fourth and final lap the gap back to Saiger was over a minute. The Kawasaki rider was maintaining a near nine second margin over Cummins with Jordan’s fine ride continuing in fourth. Dudgeon was still in fifth with another former Manx Grand Prix winner, Michael Evans, now up to sixth.
Harrison wasn’t to be denied his fourth Classic TT victory in total with his final lap of 124.238mph seeing him defeat Saiger by over a minute with Cummins completing the podium in third. The battle for fourth saw Dudgeon come out on top after Jordan’s fine ride ended at Handley’s Corner on the final lap.
Jamie Coward – who had two pit stops - Evans, Forest Dunn, Sam West, Ben Rea and Allan Brodie completed the top ten as the curtain came down on the 2018 Classic TT.
RST Superbike Classic TT results - conditions dry
1 2 Dean Harrison Kawasaki / Silicone Engineering 01:13:24.404 123.357 Silver
2 1 Horst Saiger Kawasaki / Greenall Racing 01:14:27.498 121.614 Silver
3 10 Conor Cummins Yamaha / padgettsmotorcycles.com 01:14:36.642 121.366 Silver
4 13 Andrew Dudgeon Kawasaki / Robert Burns Ltd / ACR 01:15:07.912 120.524 Silver
5 9 Jamie Coward Kawasaki / Kraus Racing 01:16:47.750 117.913 Silver
6 19 Michael Evans Kawasaki / Wilcock Consulting 01:17:26.916 116.919 Bronze
7 62 Forest Dunn Kawasaki / Forest Dunn Racing 01:18:49.535 114.876 Bronze
8 15 Sam West Suzuki / PRL/Cookson Travel 01:19:02.746 114.556 Bronze
9 24 Ben Rea Suzuki / Edmondson Classic Racing/Rea R 01:19:32.898 113.833 Bronze
10 52 Allan Brodie Suzuki / Paint Doctor uk. Geoff Martin racin 01:20:23.709 112.634 Bronze
11 17 Brian McCormack Suzuki / A & C Suzuki 01:20:56.077 111.883
12 46 Josh Daley Kawasaki / Steadplan Primus Racing 01:20:56.872 111.865
13 30 Michael Russell Honda / Bragg Creek Powersports 01:21:04.285 111.694
14 35 Dennis Booth Suzuki / Geoff Martin Racing 01:21:05.840 111.658
15 32 David Hewson Kawasaki / Obsession Engineering Ltd. 01:21:08.634 111.594
16 57 Michael Hand Yamaha / Geoff Hand Racing 01:21:26.832 111.179
17 48 Morgan Govignon Kawasaki / La Parenthese Moto 01:21:27.340 111.167
18 36 Tom Weeden Suzuki / Tom Weeden Racing 01:21:55.639 110.527
19 47 Daniel Ingham Suzuki / Oadby Motorcycles 01:22:28.957 109.783
20 41 Oliver Linsdell Yamaha / Stephen Bond / Flitwick Motorcyc 01:22:37.208 109.600
21 83 Jay Lawrence* Suzuki / Carl Cox Motorsport / Team Classi 01:22:51.531 109.285
22 33 David Madsen-Mygdal Honda / CSC Branson Racing 01:23:13.318 108.808
23 61 Andy Lovett Kawasaki / AWL Engineering Ltd 01:23:16.559 108.737
24 59 Adrian Harrison Kawasaki / SJK Travel2airport.com 01:23:23.050 108.596
25 55 Eric Wilson Kawasaki / Obsession Engineering Ltd 01:24:09.117 107.605
26 66 Pete Murray VRS Kawasaki / VRS Racing / Arizona Spe 01:24:49.708 106.747
27 65 Alec Whitwell Suzuki / Funky Monk Racing 01:26:09.912 105.091
28 80 Mike Carter Honda / Dynopro Racing 01:26:28.286 104.719
29 73 Radley Hughes Kawasaki / Royal Air Force 01:26:37.133 104.541
30 81 Andrew Cowie Suzuki / Regaby Racing 01:05:44.645 103.301
31 79 Peter Creer Suzuki / MoneyShot Racing 01:06:16.455 102.474
32 60 Neal Champion Kawasaki / Frasers of Gloucester 01:12:59.314 93.047
